Business Chat: Laura Rose Creative shares her top 3 daily apps!

This month on the blog I am thrilled to be launching a new blog series, ‘Business Chat’, where I will be talking to some of my clients, mentors and business friends and discovering their top business tips, hacks and some useful little nuggets of wisdom from their years in business!

Today my first guest is Laura Cutress of Laura Rose Creative (previously known as Anchor & Dash) and she is going to share the top 3 apps she uses on a daily basis.

We all know I love a good app – just this week I shared on Instagram my latest foray into using Shift, so I am excited to hear what her tips are.

Hi Laura, can you tell us a bit about what you do?

Of course! I’m a brand coach and digital marketing whizzkid, and I work with entrepreneurs to hone their message and get confident to present their business to the world. With coaching and strategic marketing guidance, business owners come away from working with me knowing what to say, where and when. By working with small business owners who need my guidance and non-judgemental space, we get to connect with their authenticity, creating clarity and confidence, and a path ahead. I’m not just a brand coach – I’m a cheerleader, voice of reason, sounding board, honest girlfriend and personal champion.

Wow! So do you spend a lot of time online or using tech?

Oh so much time! Too much probably… I can usually be found with two phones (work and personal), a laptop and tablet in my bag. I do, however, love taking handwritten notes and scribbles, and am a sucker for a good old analogue journal!

I’d love to know – how do you stay organised with all of your clients, projects and tech tools? Are there any apps you couldn’t live without?

I would love to say that I can’t live without ANY of my apps, but if I had to single it down to just three, I would say…

1.Trello. It is similar to Asana but is a little bit prettier for my visual brain! I find it essential for keeping both me, my clients and my team up to date with all of our projects, and it helps keep my inbox clear. I log on every morning for a lovely overview of to-do tasks and can assign jobs to my team and share content with clients. It’s a great way to track conversations and project progress without having to trawl through an email trail!

2. Hootsuite. This is my Go-To tool for scheduling and managing client content. The free version is ace, and allows me to see all of their content and channels in one place without getting sucked into a social media black hole! I manage around 100 social media channels at any one time, and if I were to log into each one individually every day I would have no life and a serious problem on my hands. Here I can simply look at a client’s account in one go, and keep the news feed hidden out of sight!

3. This last one is a tough one… but I actually think my Garmin Forerunner (and GarminConnect App) is my last daily favourite. I could easily sit at my desk all day and not move, but my Garmin tracks my heart rate, distance and steps to ensure that I get my daily run and walk with the dog in. We often do an extra lap of the park to make sure I hit my target or if it has been a particularly desk-heavy day, and I truly believe that exercise and fresh air keeps me sane! I would recommend a Fitbit or similar to everyone, especially if you work on your own or need motivation to move around.

These sound great! Thank you Laura – are there any other tips you want to share?

I would stress that an app cannot replace a team, no matter how perfect you think it is. A calculator and my bookkeeping software is no match for my wonderful accountant, and you, Sadie, are my wonder-woman VA who keeps the apps in line! They can’t fend for themselves, and an app can’t give you an honest opinion – so that’s my last piece of business advice, make sure you have a tribe of go-to helpers or people who have your back too!